Chapter 3

THREE

Fucking sit-down suppers.

The worst part of the whole bid process and a huge pain in my ass. Everyone was wedged in around the three massive dining room tables—we had to bring extra chairs down from the attic—and there really wasn't enough room for all of us at the same time. You couldn't eat without copping an elbow in your face from both sides. Not all the brothers lived at the house, so usually we had a bit of space to move, but for bid night? Yeah, everyone turned up for that.

Not that we called it bid night. As far as our rushees knew, this was just another hoop they were being asked to jump through. What they hadn't realized was that if they'd been invited tonight, they were in. After supper, they'd be extended a formal bid and then taken downstairs to the basement to pledge. Which, for the record, had always struck me as kind of dumb. Why not pledge on the spot? But all fraternities—even the more progressive ones like Alpha Tau—had their weird traditions, and ours was leading a bunch of guys downstairs to the equivalent of the Batcave just to ask if they wanted to be in our special club.

Looking around the table, it was easy to spot who'd guessed what they were here for and who hadn't quite caught on yet. Charlie was oblivious. He looked like he was just happy to be invited to supper. It was good to see him a lot more relaxed than he'd been the first time he set foot in Alpha Tau. That might have had something to do with sitting next to Marty, who was busy describing something with unmistakable hand gestures that had Charlie blushing and laughing at the same time.

Briar definitely knew what was up because he'd approached me the day before and asked if there was a dress code. I'd told him smart casual, which in his case was a fitted gray blazer and a pair of pressed blue chinos. He was rocking the choppy haircut and had fresh nail polish though, and I was almost certain he was wearing eyeliner. I liked that he was confident enough to do that after our talk.

Ethan had obviously figured it out, although he didn't appear all that happy about it given that neither Fisher nor Graham had been invited. If Ethan was pissed, that made two of us. There was one kid, Jasper, that I'd really wanted to extend a bid to, but he was missing out. Ethan was a legacy, so we were stuck with him instead.

When we got to the end of supper, Trey stood and cleared his throat loudly, then waited for the conversation to die down. When it didn't, Scout let out a piercing whistle, which cut through the chatter, and everyone fell silent.

"Floor's yours," he said, scowling at Trey. Not that he was unhappy or anything. That was just his face.

"Okay, y'all," Trey said, in what was possibly the least formal start to a bid speech ever. "I'll keep this short. You're here tonight because you've earned an invitation to pledge. Congratulations, you made the cut."

There was an audible gasp from Charlie. "Really?" he asked, eyes bright. "I'm in?"

"You're in, bro," Marty said and fist-bumped him.

The rest of us broke into a round of applause. Looking around the table and seeing all the newbies wearing wide, relieved smiles at knowing they'd made the grade reminded me how much I enjoyed this part of the process. If I spent a few extra seconds watching Briar to make sure his smile was genuine—it was—well, that was just me doing my job as pledge master.

We got up from the table, and I was glad to see Charlie, Sawyer, and Briar stacking plates and taking them through to the kitchen without being asked. Connor's life as house manager would be a heck of a lot easier if the new guys were willing to pull their weight. Plus, as pledges they'd be doing plenty of shitty jobs, so they might as well get used to it.

Trey, Archer, and Connor made their way down to the basement while Marty and I handed around celebratory beers and congratulated the successful pledges. Then I took them downstairs one at a time, starting with Sawyer.

When we got there, I sat him down at the long table we'd set up for the pledging, with a single chair on one side and four for the executive on the other. The table was placed in front of the rear wall that was decorated with portraits, old banners, memorabilia, and the Alpha Tau crest. The setup gave off a vibe that was far more "interrogation" than warm welcome, and was at definite odds with the homey sky-blue painted walls, corduroy beanbags, and worn couches that filled what was usually a hangout space. Sawyer didn't seem to notice, perching on the edge of his chair and nodding along as Trey ran through the benefits of belonging to our fraternity and what we'd expect in return. Trey wound up his spiel with, "You've got a week to consider?—"

"Nope, I'm in," Sawyer said. "Please." He flashed a smile that spoke of first-class orthodontics in his childhood, and it was obvious how happy he was to be a part of the Alpha Tau family.

Sawyer was a decent dude. He was a legacy, yeah, but I couldn't, in all fairness, hold that against him since, unlike Ethan, he wasn't a dick. Despite being a sure thing, when he signed the paperwork securing him a spot in Alpha Tau, he displayed the same eagerness as Marty when presented with a fresh donut. He shook hands with each of us in turn, still grinning from ear to ear. When he reached me and I said, "Welcome to Alpha Tau," I could swear that his eyes got a glossy sheen as he clasped my hand.

We worked our way down the list of pledges, and they all reacted similarly, signing up without hesitation. It felt good, knowing that we'd made their day—let's be real, we'd probably made their next four years.

The eighth guy I took down to the basement was Ethan.

Unlike the others, he didn't seem in the least bit excited when I called him, instead stretching his arms over his head in a yawn and sauntering after me toward the stairs, very clearly projecting an attitude of "no big deal."

He nodded in all the right places as Trey read out his rights and obligations, and he sure as hell signed on the dotted line, but you could tell he was pissed, and we all knew why. I could only hope that he didn't feel the need to blurt something out and make this awkward.

So of course he opened his big dumb mouth and said, "I still don't see why you didn't invite Fisher and Graham. Like, I basically promised them I could get them in. What gives, man?"

He sprawled back in his chair, arms folded like he expected an explanation or something, which, fuck that guy.

Trey looked him up and down, unsmiling. Ethan squirmed under his gaze and sat upright and spread his hands wide, attempting something like a smile. "I'm just saying. You let the emo kid and that guy who's on a fucking scholarship in."

"Yeah," Trey said, raising one eyebrow slightly. "We did."

He didn't expand on that. He just fixed Ethan with a cool stare, and Ethan finally, finally, got a fucking clue.

He ran a hand through his hair and then stood. "Well, thanks, I guess. When do we get our rooms? I can't wait to move out of those shitty fucking dorms."

"We'll let you know," Trey said.

Ethan put a hand on one hip and looked like he was about to push the point, but then he thought better of it and headed to the door without another word.

Once he was gone, Archer snorted. "Y'all agree he's a dick, right?"

"Yeah," Trey said with a sigh. "But we're stuck with him."

I stood and went up the stairs to fetch our next pledge and almost ran into the back of Ethan when I reached the top. He was standing there like he'd been waiting for me, and he reached out and grabbed my upper arm. "Listen, man," he said in an undertone. "You're pledge master. Can't you do, like, something to get my guys an invitation?"

"Sorry, it's not my call," I said, even though it had very much been. Fisher and Graham had been assholes. I'd rejected them from the get-go, and Trey had agreed after he'd spotted them leaving the cookout loaded up with beer from the cooler. I pulled out of his grip. "You might wanna move out of the doorway, bro."

Ethan glared after me as I sidestepped his bulk and went to get Charlie from the dining room. Ethan was gone when we got back, and Charlie almost tripped over himself in his haste to follow me into the basement, despite not having seen the last guy come out. That kid would never have survived five minutes in a slasher movie.

After Ethan, Charlie was a breath of fresh air. His knee jiggled in a nervous rhythm, and he had a heap of questions, but I could tell that unlike Ethan, he wasn't asking to be obnoxious—he just wanted to get all his ducks in a row—and it was clear that he was so damn glad to be here. He must have said "thank you" about twenty times, and he couldn't keep the grin off his face.

"I still can't believe y'all picked me," he confided once he'd signed his acceptance. "Like, my family ain't exactly living high on the hog, you know? We're just working-class folks."

Archer waved a hand. "We like you, bro. And you're a good fit. That's the only thing we care about."

By the time we got to the part where we all shook Charlie's hand and welcomed him, I thought he was going to vibrate out of his skin with happiness. I followed him up the stairs and into the dining room and beckoned to Briar. He was perched on the edge of the couch, and he bounced to his feet like he was spring-loaded and shot me a relieved smile, like maybe he thought we'd changed our minds or something.

Downstairs, we went through the whole song and dance of pledging and what our expectations were for the final time. When Trey got to the part where he asked if he had any questions, Briar raised his hand from his lap and then dropped it again. He chewed at his bottom lip before saying, "Um. So is my place here affected by my academic record?"

"Bro," I said quickly, "you don't need to worry about that. I mean, you've already taken your LSAT. You're golden."

He opened his mouth, then closed it again and flashed me a smile. "In that case, where do I sign?"

We got the paperwork out of the way, and once Briar was gone, I said, "Okay. Now that part's done, who wants to go and get hammered with the new guys?"

"Hell yeah," Archer said, high-fiving me. There was the rapid scrape of chair legs on concrete as we all hurried to get upstairs and let loose.

The post-pledging party was usually pretty wild, and it was one Alpha Tau ritual I could get behind.

The next weekwas a whirlwind of organization. I was responsible for making sure the new pledges all had a copy of the history of Alpha Tau to learn and be quizzed on, and Connor had to update the house rosters to include ten new people, all of whom were about to be loaded up with chores as part of their pledging process.

Things went downhill the morning he pinned a copy of the new roster up on the corkboard in the kitchen. The pledges had come over to have breakfast and bond and shit, and we figured it was as good a time as any to introduce them to what frat life was really like—more trash duty than toga parties. When Connor announced they'd been assigned their tasks for the month, Ethan pushed past the other pledges, took one look, and immediately declared he wasn't going on a roster to look after "some dumb dog."

When I heard him sounding off, I hustled over to the kitchen where the new guys were gathered. Marty was there, covering Squirrel's ears and glaring at Ethan like he was trying to set him on fire with the power of his mind. I made a mental note to hide Marty's lighter, just in case he thought of a backup plan if pyrokinesis failed.

"Is there a problem, pledge?" I asked Ethan.

Ethan's eyes widened, and I could tell he hadn't expected to be challenged—maybe he thought the rules of pledging didn't apply to him as a legacy. "No problem. I'm just not comfortable around dogs," he said. "It's one of those, you know. A trigger!" He looked far too pleased with himself and not at all traumatized, despite Squirrel only being a few feet away.

"Huh," I said. "Kind of weird that you'd pledge to literally the only frat with a dog."

Charlie cleared his throat and said, "I can walk him extra. Squirrel's cool."

There was a kid who'd spent his life keeping the peace, I could tell.

"Done," Connor said, pulling out a Sharpie and writing Charlie's name over top of Ethan's on the Squirrel roster.

Ethan smirked—right until Connor replaced Charlie's name with Ethan's on the trash roster. "Hey! No fair!"

"Gotta balance it out somehow," Connor said with a shrug and walked away. I knew I liked that guy for a reason.

Ethan scowled at Charlie like this had been all his doing. "Good job, kid. Now I have to cart trash bags like the hired help. How does that work? I mean, you're the one who's a fucking charity case."

Charlie flushed a deep red and ducked his head, curling in on himself. Ethan's words had hit him hard. It looked like he was barely holding it together.

I was about to call Ethan out, but Briar beat me to it.

"Hey," he said, stepping right up into Ethan's space, chin tipped up in a clear challenge despite being a good four inches shorter. "How about you fuck right off with your rich boy privilege?"

Ethan gaped for a second, then said, "Who the hell asked you?"

Well, shit.

I stepped in before the situation got out of hand, wedging myself into the tiny space between Briar and Ethan so that Ethan was forced to take a step back. He was taller than me, but that didn't stop me from eyeballing him hard. "Y'all might wanna get some manners real fast if you wanna keep your place here. And just so you know, Charlie was my first pick to join us, so maybe you should quit actin' ugly."

Ethan blinked in surprise. "But… I'm a legacy."

"Exactly. You're here because of who your daddy is. Charlie's here because we want him here. So lose the attitude, okay?"

There was a tense moment when Ethan tried to stare me down, but I'd been wrangling pledges for a while now, and I pretty much had a spine of steel where cocky freshmen were concerned. I stood my ground, and it didn't take long for Ethan to realize I wasn't kidding. "Yeah, whatever," he mumbled, slinking out of the kitchen.

Once he was gone, Charlie let out a shaky breath. "I'm sorry."

"Dude, what the hell are you sorry for?" I said. "You didn't do a thing."

"Yeah, but…" He kept his gaze fixed on the floor.

"I've said it before, and I'll say it again. This ain't your granddaddy's frat. We don't give a good goddamn about who your family is, you got that?"

Charlie nodded, but his shoulders were still curled in like a pillbug.

"Course, it doesn't hurt that both you and Briar are smarter'n hell and you're gonna make our academic record look real good this year, but you're here because we like you. And I'll make sure Ethan doesn't run his mouth again," I said.

Charlie twisted the hem of his T-shirt between his fingers. "Thanks."

Briar stepped up close and put a hand on Charlie's shoulder. "And hey, so what if he called you a charity case?" he said. "Like, it could have been worse."

Charlie lifted his head and raised a disbelieving eyebrow. "How?"

I held my breath. Briar might mean well, but this was obviously a sore point for Charlie, and Briar was gonna need to step real carefully.

Briar shrugged. "I mean, he could have called you… a ginger."

Charlie blinked, and then he let out a startled laugh as the tension left him. I reminded myself to give Briar a little more credit.

Briar pulled Charlie into a one-armed hug, and Charlie relaxed against his side, a small smile on his face. "Thanks for looking out for me."

"Yeah, thanks for stepping up," I said. "Just don't do it again, okay?"

Briar jutted his chin out. "But I was?—"

"I know you were, and I appreciate that." I folded my arms and held Briar's gaze. "But y'all have a pledge master—me. Anyone tries any bullshit, you come to me, and I'll deal with it, understand? Nobody picks on my little bro pledges."

For some reason Briar's cheeks stained pink, and I wondered if I'd embarrassed him. Then he gave me a shy smile and said, "I guess I'm not used to having someone who'll step up for me."

"Yeah? Well, get used to it. We look after our own." I bumped my shoulder against his and gave in to the urge to ruffle his dark locks, making them look even more wild. That earned me a startled squawk, but he didn't pull away from my touch. Instead, he smiled at me, and I did my best not to think about how fucking adorable he looked with those pink cheeks and mussed-up hair.

"Yeah, but... isn't Ethan an Alpha Tau too?" Charlie asked hesitantly.

There was a loud snort from behind me.

"Well yeah, but we like you guys," Marty said from where he was sitting on the floor with his back against the wall and Squirrel's head in his lap. "Ethan's a dick. And if he keeps it up, he and the chapter executive will be havin' a come to Jesus talk real soon."

Briar's smile faded. "Is that a thing? Getting in trouble with the chapter executive?"

"Trust me, it's not anything you have to worry about," I said. "As long as you take part in all the pledge activities and don't do anything dumbass like mouthing off to the executive members, you're gonna be fine."

The rest of the newbies nodded, and then they all scurried away like startled rabbits. I tried to remember if I'd been that wide-eyed and terrified when I'd first pledged—probably, if I was honest with myself. But I'd settled in just fine, and these guys would too, given time.

I sighed and grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl before going to find Trey. I needed to let him know that legacy or not, Ethan was proving our opinions of him true and shaping up to be a pain in the ass.

When rush weekended was when my real work began: the probation period. First, I had to assign all the new pledges to their big brothers, who'd be their go-to guys for the first few weeks settling in. They would also be their mentors for the rest of their time at Lassiter and even going into their future lives and careers. It was something I took pretty seriously. Archer was Briar's big brother, because Archer was a hell of a good listener if Briar wanted to open up. I paired my problem child, Ethan, up with Marty—because Marty, despite all appearances to the contrary, was an excellent judge of character and saw a lot of stuff that other people missed. And if I'd missed something about Ethan, Marty would pick up on it and fill me in. Not that I thought I had—Ethan was about as shallow as a puddle of piss and just as pleasant—but just in case.

"Casey," drawled Scout from my bedroom door.

I turned around from where I was sitting at my desk. "Is that a smoking jacket?"

Scout plucked at the velvet. "Yes."

"Bro, it's like my grandma's couch."

Scout narrowed his eyes. "Why do I have a little brother?"

"Because being in Alpha Tau is all about giving back, Scout," I said. "Open your heart and feel the love."

If looks could kill. "I don't like people."

"Too bad," I said and swiveled on my chair. Not only did I have to do all the pledge stuff, but I'd also got an email from Allison at Zeta Tau, and Professor Stern had already given out his first history assignment for the year. I really didn't have time to argue with Scout about his little brother.

"Why have I gotten the shy, squishy one?"

"To toughen him up," I lied. I'd actually given him Charlie because Scout was a good guy. He just liked to pretend he was an asshole. "And, oh, you're also in charge of coming up with strategies for this year's first fundraiser. We're doing a joint candy drive with the Zeta Taus, and Allison said they can kick our asses."

"Well, that's not fair," Scout said, blinking. "They have boobs."

"That's what I said!"

"Huh." Scout scowled, but that was his default expression. "Well, let me think about it." He tapped the doorjamb and then dug a bag of weed out of the pocket of his velvet jacket. "Wanna come out back and smoke with me?"

"Sure," I said. "Since you dressed up for the occasion and all."

And besides, maybe getting high would stop me from thinking about Briar and the dumb, stupid crush I had on him.

At least it couldn't hurt to try.